Boreal Magic

In 2011 Hyperion Records released a disc of music by the Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds. It was something of a revelation and alongside the late Claudio Abbado's benchmark Mahler 9 and the Gewandhausorchester's Beethoven cycle it was one of my discs of the year. While that recording revolved around sacred works, At the Foot of the Sky, a new collection from State Choir Latvija offers new secular pieces, albeit ones filled with boreal magic and magnificence.

Ešenvalds' soundworld is a lush one, brilliantly complemented by the roomy acoustic of St John's Church in Riga. Indeed expansiveness is clearly the theme of this collection, with the opening Long Road offering a love song to the 'blooming' earth and 'a star in the distant sky'. In this and many of the ensuing works, as on Passion and Resurrection, Ešenvalds employs a series of instrumental soloists, with mellifluous bass flute, prepared piano, whistles, percussion and strings merging and melding with the sound of the choir.

While these forces are used to more spirited ends in Seneca's Zodiac, the disc is largely slow and hypnotic. Sun Dogs, a two-part virtuoso showcase for the choir's abilities, provides much needed bite. For however gorgeous the singing – and the State Choir Latvija is on truly commanding form here – the disc does feel slightly liberal in its penchant for the mellifluous over the muscular. But then with something as gloriously lush as In Paradisum, the final track and the only purely secular work on the disc, you just can't resist basking in its melismatic glories. Click here to order a copy.

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